A large crowd attending an event welcoming Union soldiers home, Philadelphia, 1865. The main stand for where the most prominent attendees sit is the structure in the background festooned with flags. The banner in the background contains the names of the battles the soldiers fought in including the battles of Seven Pines, Bull Run, Antietam, Malvern Hill, and Mobile Bay. Animated stereoview.

Distant view of the USS New Ironsides (right) and other Union ironclads firing at Confederate-held Fort Sumter or Fort Moultrie from just off Morris Island as a large number of spectators on the beach watch the action, 1863. By Haas and Peale.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Animated stereoview of the crowd in Union Square during the Great Sumter Rally. Source.

View taken after the end of the event after much of the crowd had dispersed. From Miller's Photographic History of the Civil War.

Two photographs of a large crowd of people in a gathering to show support for the preservation of the Union after the fall of Fort Sumter in Union Square, New York City, 1861. Around 100,000 people were said to have attended the event which would have made it the largest gathering of people held in the United States up to that point. It succeeded in raising money and enlisting soldiers for the early Union Army and was credited with helping to defend Washington, D.C., in the early months of the war. The event has variety of different names including "The Great Union Meeting," "The Great Mass Meeting," and the "Great Sumter Rally."

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Three men in a tree on Stafford Heights watching distant fighting on Marye’s Heights during the Second Battle of Fredericksburg, 1863. Smoke from the battle is possibly visible in the distance which would make it one of the earliest combat photographs of a land battle. The destroyed railroad bridge over the Rappahannock River is in the middle ground of the photo.

Photograph is from the National Park Service via the Western Reserve Historical Society, which seems to have a large collection of previously unpublished American Civil War photographs. The photograph was discovered by Bob Zeller, the president of the Center for Civil War Photography.

Union soldiers posing with Confederate flags that they captured in battle, each of whom was awarded a Medal of Honor for the feat, 1865. General John Gibbon, at center with his left hand on his belt, was in charge of transporting them to Washington, DC. Photograph is said to portray the 14 Medal of Honor recipients from the Battle of Fort Gregg during the Siege of Petersburg. Probably taken after Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House.

Possibly the first photograph taken of soldiers with flags that they had captured in battle, a phenomenon that would become very popular in 20th century wars.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

The negative version of the left photograph (before the shell exploded). The smoke coming from a fire in the shelter built into the canal in the background is obviously different from the smoke said to be coming from the exploded Confederate shell.

Animated stereoscopic view which looks like it was taken during the same photo shoot as the other two photographs.

An image taken during the Dutch Gap Canal photographic sequence was
possibly the first combat photograph to be taken during fighting on land
(top right). According to the stereocard it was released on: “The mist
rising against the bank is caused by a rebel shell, which exploded just
as this view was being photographed, December, 1864.” Unfortunately,
this is the best quality image of the photograph so far released online.
The CCWP web post says that Union soldiers can be seen moving away from the smoke in
the background to the right, inferring that they are escaping the shell
explosion.
It appears they are emerging from digging in a deeper section of the
canal. The officer in the right foreground is said to look quite unfazed by the
whole ordeal, merely turning his head towards the commotion. The image said to be taken right before the shell exploded
is on the top left and a better resolution version is below it. . The animated stereoview photograph at the bottom looks like it was taken during the same photo shoot as the other two and portrays the same main subjects but from a greater distance away. Possibly taken by A.J. Russell.

A regiment of Union soldiers drawn up to watch an execution of an unknown individual or individuals, near Petersburg, Virginia, August 1864. Two recently dug graves can be seen to the right of the gallows presumably for the people about to be executed. Even though it was captured as a stereoscopic image, the photograph was taken at too extreme of a distance to show anything interesting when animated. By John Reekie.

A rare four photograph stereoscopic plate taken of Union soldiers in camp which is probably a Sanitary Commission camp in Virginia, c. 1864. Each photograph was taken seconds
apart which allows the photos to be viewed in a film-like photographic
sequence as seen in the first animation. It also allows the photographs
to be viewed as animated stereoscopic images, which can be seen in the second and
third animations.

Animations of stereoscopic images from four-photograph plates sadly do not seem to come out as well as those of the standard two-photograph stereoscopic plates. Distortions seem to be present that prevent this perhaps because photographers never perfected using the four photograph plates or else it was simply too impractical.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

View of President Abraham Lincoln's funeral procession on Broadway entering Union Square in New York City, April 1865. The house on the left of the second photograph is where a young Teddy Roosevelt can be seen in a window (just out of frame here) of another photograph which was taken from the same position. Animated stereoview.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Union soldiers posing as if fighting from behind gabion defenses in front of Fort Mahone, April 1865. Probably taken after the fighting considering the line of soldiers standing in line out in the open in the background in two of the photographs. Animated stereoscopic photographs.

Two portraits of Union soldiers from the color guard of the 7th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment posing with their flags and Henry repeating rifles. The rifles could be fired at a rate of 28 rounds per minute.